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“You’d never spare me.” It was a quiet, shaky whisper.
“I would if you released us. I don’t want to kill you, Royal. I think you’ve suffered enough. But I will end you if you don’t back the fuck down.”
Foreman swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I just can’t. This has to be done.” He shook his head. “You all should have just stayed away.”
A familiar, raging sense of urgency struck Tanner hard, making his knees buckle, his scalp prickle, and his hackles rise. Devon. His heart began to pound like a drum, every muscle in his body went tight, and his hound just about lost its shit.
“Something’s happening,” he told Knox. “I have to get to Devon.” He snarled at Foreman, his eyes briefly bleeding to black. “Open this fucking thing. Open it!”
The male stepped backwards. “I-I can’t.”
“You listen to me,” Tanner ground out, fighting his hound for supremacy when all it wanted was to surface and lunge at the prison it had no chance of smashing through. “My mate needs me. If I don’t get to her now, she could die.”
Foreman licked his lower lip. “I’m sorry.” He genuinely looked like he was, and then Tanner couldn’t see him at all, because the flames spread to the front of the prison and blocked his view.
Breathing hard, Tanner spat out a curse and hurled one ball of hellfire after another at the fluid walls. All the orbs disintegrated. “Fuck!” Nostrils flaring, he started pacing up and down. His hound roared and raged, demanding freedom even as it knew there was nothing it could do—they were fucking trapped.
“I’ll get you to her soon, Tanner, I swear that to you,” said Knox. “As soon as the flames destroy this snare, we’ll be out. It won’t take long. There are already fractures in the walls.”
It didn’t take long for someone to die either.
“I tried notifying Larkin and Jolene,” said Levi, “but I can’t touch the minds of anyone outside this prison. It’s fucking blocking me, just like it blocks teleportation.”
It was also blocking Tanner from touching Devon’s mind to be sure she was alive. Snarling deep in his throat, he punched the fluid wall in front of him. It was like punching an iceberg, and it hurt like a motherfucker. He pulled back his fist with a hiss.
A wave of Knox’s hand made the flames part just enough for him to look at Foreman. “Last chance to let us out, Royal. It’ll mean death by the flames if you don’t.”
His expression both grave and determined, Foreman shook his head. “I truly am sorry.” And then he started edging away, clearly intending to make his escape. He might be content to die in the explosion, but he clearly didn’t want to go through the agony of being devoured by the flames of hell.
Knox sighed. “Bad decision.”
A black flame flicked out and hooked around Foreman’s throat. He screamed and kicked his legs as it lifted him high, and then it dragged him down. His howls of pain cut off as the flames swallowed him whole.
“The gaps in the walls are getting bigger,” said Levi.
Big enough to fit an arm through, but not a body. And if the flames didn’t destroy the snare before the bomb detonated, they were totally fucked.
Urgency riding him hard, Tanner again tried reaching out with his mind to touch Devon’s, needing to know if she was alive. But, again, the fluid prison blocked his attempt.
Even as they all knew it was likely pointless, the three of them battered at the walls with everything they had—orbs of hellfire, raw strength, waves of sheer power. Nothing worked, but they didn’t stop. Still, it was likely thanks to the flames alone that a break finally formed in one of the walls that was almost wide enough for them to squeeze through.
“I know you’re eager to get to Devon,” Knox said to Tanner. “I’ll pyroport you right to her the moment we take care of the bomb—that can’t wait. Foreman seemed to be guarding that portion of the wall over there,” he added, pointing to their right. “Which was exactly where Muriel’s scent seemed to be leading you. The second we get out, you get your ass to the bomb. I’ll direct the flames at it, and then I’ll get us the fuck out of here. Agreed?”
Tanner nodded, even though the only thing that mattered to him was getting to Devon. He’d heard the ticking; knew the bomb was close.
“We can fit through the gap now, but it won’t be easy,” said Levi.
His prediction proved right. Knox ordered the flames to move away from that part of the wall—they’d cause him no harm, but they’d eat Tanner and Levi alive. The prison walls were so cold they burned Tanner’s flesh as he awkwardly struggled through the large crack. Although they were fluid, they scraped and scoured him, just as a huge block of ice would.
